Session Brief: Organisational culture and technology have a ‘chicken and egg’ relationship in improving health and safety practices—although technology can drive changes in safety culture, adopting innovative approaches also requires a culture shift to be successful. Dr Kathryn Davies will explore facets of this apparent paradox, focusing on examples from local and international projects using Building Information Modelling (BIM) to support construction safety. She will also introduce the BIMSafe portal, a new platform for sharing expertise and lessons learned in this field.

Dr Kathryn Davies is a Research Fellow at University of Canterbury, where she is part of the Building Innovation Partnership, an industry-led research programme to improve performance, productivity and health and safety in construction.

Her research interests focus on the intersection of information technology, construction health and safety, and industry-based education and training. She is currently involved in BIMSafe, a project that explores the use of digital technologies to enhance safety in design and construction.

Kathryn has worked internationally to help companies, universities and research organisations bridge the gap between research and practice, and has received several fellowships and awards for her research.